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AMD graduates to business class…

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...posthumously for the enthusiast, of course, but AMD's acceptance as a CPU suitable for business desktops by HP can only mean good things for the struggling company. If the #1 PC maker in the world (by quantity) finally recognizes the value of an AMD system for desktop use, then perhaps Dell, IBM, and others may follow. HP will be using the Athlon XP in the Compaq D315, which will be targeted at government, small-to-midsize business and educational markets.

The D315 is expected to sell for $650, before rebates. It will include an Athlon XP 2000+ processor, 128MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive, a CD-ROM drive and no monitor. The machine also uses Nvidia's nForce chipset. HP initially plans to offer a $100 rebate on the D315.

That's a deal, plain and simple. This likely means, however, that AMD is selling processors to HP at razor thin margins, but if that's the cost of getting their foot in the door, so be it. Dell obviously has a sweet deal with Intel, and if AMD can get other OEMs on board, they may feel a little heat. More importantly, if AMD can establish better system engineering relationships with large vendors, it may bode well for their future endeavors to pound the crap out of the competition, so to speak.

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Ken Fisher
Ken is the founder & Editor-in-Chief of Ars Technica. A veteran of the IT industry and a scholar of antiquity, Ken studies the emergence of intellectual property regimes and their effects on culture and innovation. Emailken@arstechnica.com//Twitter@kenfisher